Johnathan Flowers is an assistant professor in the department of philosophy at California State University Northridge. Flowers’ primary research areas include African American intellectual history and philosophy, Japanese Aesthetics, American Pragmatism, Philosophy of Disability, and Philosophy of Technology. He also works in the areas of Feminist Philosophy and affect theory, with a specific focus on the affective organization of identity.

Carmen Yau is a Lecturer in Social Work at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a multi-award winner – Disability Power 100 (2024), UN Women’s Rise and Raise Other Award nominee (2021), Tatler’s Hot List of “Sixteen Women Fighting for Fairness in Asia” (2020). Her work includes disability-affirmative sex education, restorative justice in domestic and sexual violence, sex volunteering services, “crip” experience in kink and fetish, and radical professional practices. Her current study on “AI-powered PhotoVoice in Erotica” spotlight her bold and revolutionary approach to research and advocacy in sexuality.

Mia Action is an independent scholar, alternative sexuality consultant, dominatrix, and artist based in Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. She is a current research fellow with CARAS studying how disgust and stigma can animate sexual arousal in fetishism. Affiliations: Community Academic Consortium of Research on Alternative Sexuality (CARAS), Dr. Brad Sagarin (Northern Illinois University’s Science of BDSM Research Lab.)

Treasure Affia is a Nigerian sexuality educator and founder of The Feminist Code, a youth-led, pan-african and global south feminist platform. Through her work, she aims at dismantling Western sex-ed scripts by centering decolonial feminist, queer, and African epistemologies. She’s reshaping what liberation looks like when we stop teaching from the Global North’s playbook. She is currently a senior at Eastern Michigan University with a double major in Psychology/Women & Gender Studies. Affiliations: Founder, The Feminist Code. Senior Undergraduate Psychology/Women and Gender Studies at Eastern Michigan University

Audry Lu Black is a eudaimonic philosopher, professional dominatrix, sex educator, published author, and personal intimacy consultant. For over 25 years, one-on-one and in workshops and lectures, she has created effective, personalized solutions for clients and companions who crave understanding, guidance, and confidentiality using her expertise in the integration of sex-positive techniques and BDSM with dynamic habit building. Affiliations: https://placemarker4perversion.com, https://www.researchanddesire.com

Livi Bivens (she/they) is a Black queer polyamorous storyteller and community weaver whose work centers expansive kinship, reproductive justice, and pleasure as liberation. She uplifts Black queer approaches to care, family, and legacy through writing, facilitation, and culture-shifting conversations.

Kiana S. Cummings (she/her) is a mental health and sex therapist. Her research focuses on kinksters, mental health, and the intersectionality of race. Affiliation: TASHRA

Paul is a sex therapist in Missouri, specializing in sexuality including kink, fetish, and polyamory.

Dr. Sha’Rose Erion, PT, DPT is the owner and CEO of the award-winning Rose Pelvic Physiotherapy in Huntsville, AL, where she specializes in providing inclusive and affirming pelvic floor physical therapy to marginalized communities, including the black birthing and transgender communities. Beyond her clinical work, this Huntsville Business Journal ’40 Under 40′ honoree is also a certified business coach empowering BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creatives and service providers, and she is dedicated to education and community outreach. Affiliations: Rose Pelvic Physiotherapy, PhysioPhit, Birth 2 BounceBack

Jeremiah Gibson and Julia Postema are the founders of Let’s Heal Together, a business that specializes in helping couples and families navigate faith transitioning out of Evangelical, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities. They are licensed therapists in MA and NC, and certified sex therapists through AASECT. Substack, Relationship 101: sexvangelicals.substack.com

Aubri Lancaster (Bri/she) is an AASECT and ANTE UP! Certified Sexuality Educator with over two decades of experience in adult sexuality education. As a Greyromantic Asexual educator, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work with clinicians and communities. Affiliations: AASECT Certified, ANTE UP! Certified

Emily LaRosa is a researcher in Artificial Intelligence, focusing on the ethical and trustworthy deployment of systems in our daily lives. Affiliation: Michigan State University

Jarred H. Martin, PhD, is a researcher and academic in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, whose work focuses on intimacy, health, and wellbeing in kink communities. They lead the Alternative Sexualities in Africa Project (ASAP) and serve on the editorial boards of Psychology & Sexuality and Methods in Psychology. Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pretoria

Shveta Mittal is a licensed Clinical Psychologist, certified psychedelic practitioner, and leather lifestylist. She has worked extensively with those who experience acute psychological distress and struggle with emotion regulation from an intersectional, sex-positive, person-centered, trauma-informed lens. Affiliations: Independent Practice; APA Div 44 Membership Chair; APA Div 44 BDSM Task Force Co-Chair 

Iris Ryn Olson (they/them) is a public health professional working towards their PhD in community and behavioral health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, studying the kink and BDSM populations and their reproductive health experiences and outcomes. Affiliation: University of Pittsburgh

Debra Pascali-Bonaro is a world-renowned inspirational speaker, podcaster, filmmaker, doula trainer, childbirth educator, and author. Debra’s podcast, Orgasmic Birth, heals barriers and opens the door to share secrets to more love and intimacy in birth and parenting. Debra is a mother, grandmother, and featured expert in parenting journals and media around the world. 

Ariel E. Pliskin, MSW, LICSW, CST, CSE (they/them) is a psychotherapist and Relationship & Sex Therapy Program Manager at Advance Psychotherapy Practice in Western Massachusetts. They specialize in sex therapy and relationship therapy, integrating clinical practice, training, and scholarship with a strong focus on ethics, diversity, and liberation-oriented approaches. Affiliation: Relationship & Sex Therapy Institute (RSTI) Program Manager  

Jeremiah Gibson and Julia Postema are the founders of Let’s Heal Together, a business that specializes in helping couples and families navigate faith transitioning out of Evangelical, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities. They are licensed therapists in MA and NC, and certified sex therapists through AASECT. Substack, Relationship 101: sexvangelicals.substack.com

Aaron Roldan, ASW, SUDCC is a therapist and doctoral student specializing in liberation-focused and identity-affirming care for marginalized communities. Their clinical work centers on relational psychodynamic approaches, with training in Gestalt Therapy, IFS, and psychodynamic group work. Affiliation: United Hearts Therapy

Samantha Slawson (she/her) is a therapist and sex educator who’s passionate about making conversations around disability, intimacy, and mental health more real, inclusive, and stigma-free.

Aidan Sunassee is a kink and sexuality researcher and educator focusing on trauma, healing, and kink, and the ways they intersect with and influence one another. https://dominantdiscourse.com/